Monday, December 19, 2011

(I haven't blogged in forever, it's my intention to get caught up over break and at least finish the 4 posts I have in my drafts...)

Today Robert and I are beginning our 18 hour adventure of a drive up to Michigan. We're driving my 85 year old grandparents up so we can spend Christmas up North. We have been doing this same drive since I was born, but it's a little different with the grandparents....

I'm really hoping this year will be a lot more uneventful than the last trip. Nancy and I got stuck for 8 hours in WV. An 18 wheeler overturned and 31 cars slid of the road trying to avoid it. Needless to say it was a disaster, they called the national guard, and we sat still with the car off for 8 hours. The normal 2 day trip turned into a very exhausting 3 day trip.

This is what last trip looked like... Say a prayer and cross your fingers we have a smooth trip so we can enjoy our White Christmas!!!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

We are all set for 22 tomorrow for our Greenville Thanksgiving lunch! Today we made our assigned dishes so my chef Uncle can get down to business tomorrow! 3 pumpkin pies, a pecan pie, a pumpkin trifle cake, broccoli salad, sweet potato casserole, lemon cake, pumpkin cheese dip, and brie bites we all made in Grandma's kitchen today.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

I have so many fun things I want to be posting about...but I'm stuck in a Tulsa hotel without my camera cord. And really what's a blog post without pictures?
Mom and I had a fun weekend in Tulsa but windy weather in Chicago {shocking} left me stuck in good ole Oklahoma. So my night consists of watching the Pats v Jets game, eating a not so appetizing dinner at the hotel, and doing some homework.
Happy Sunday.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Christie and I hosted a girl's night last Thursday. Since we've been traveling so much this semester, we don't get to see our Columbia friends a lot. The weather was starting to get a little chilly so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try out a Pintrist soup I've been eyeing. Everyone liked it and I almost felt guilty because it was SO easy! I dumped everything in the crockpot in the morning and it was ready for company at night.

Easy Crockpot Potato Soup

1 30oz bag of frozen shredded has browns

3 14oz cans of chicken broth

1 can of cream of chicken soup {GF variety worked great!}

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1 pkg. cream cheese {I used 1/3 fat--I red fat free won't melt}

In crockpot, combine everything EXCEPT for the cream cheese. Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat. About 1 hour before serving, add cream cheese and keep heated until thoroughly melted. {the soup wasn't as smooth as I liked, so I put some in the blender until smooth}
Serve with cheese, sour cream, crumbled bacon, and green onions.

Friday, October 21, 2011

My weekend started this afternoon at 1:00pm after my aphasia group...I had no plans. zip. zero.

I went to lunch with my friend Lacy then came home and relaxed. Caitlyn called and asked if I wanted to go to Bonefish with her and her mom. Of course I accepted and it was a blast. I finished the night by coming home to watch PanAm. It was a perfect Friday night.

I was thinking I don't know for how long I'll be able to enjoy the freedom of a Friday night with NO responsibilities or NO plans. I don't have to share the remote with anyone, I can go to bed whenever I want to and I can sleep in until whatever time I chose. It was great.

I am trying to be better at living in the moment and not looking ahead to the next thing. In high school I always looked ahead to college. In college I looked ahead to grad school. I don't want to waste my 20s because I'm always looking forward to my 30s. Good Lord willing my 30s will come one day...Here's to enjoying today!

Monday, October 10, 2011

When I first started my practicum at the hospital, my supervisor told me I had to wear a white coat. Umm, excuse me? I thought doctors wore white coats?!? Turns out I was wrong. So I bought my coat and was ready to go. After a few weeks I still feel pretty silly walking around the hospital wearing a white coat when I really don't feel like I know what I'm doing! (The other day a doctor asked me what a code was after it was announced--um I have no clue what Code Blue vs Code Red means however I think you should!)

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Between tailgating for Gamecock Football and Soccer and our trip to ATL for the GT game..we've been tailgating a lot lately!

We went to ATL a few weekends ago to watch GT beat UNC. Since it was a noon game we had a breakfast tailgate. Our spread was-- breakfast casserole, breakfast burritos, sweet potato biscuits with ham or jelly, and muffins. My contribution was the casserole and biscuits. I love making the Breakfast Casserole because you can prep it at night which = more sleeping in the morning! (shout out to my Roomie for the delish GF recipe)

Mix all ingredients. Place in greased 2 qt casserole dish and bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

{You can mix all of the ingredients at night and just pop it in the oven in the morning}

The biscuits were a new adventure. Both of my sisters served this type of biscuits at their wedding reception. This was my first attempt of homemade biscuit making, next time I'll make them thicker and smaller (more like bite-size which was served at the weddings)

The recipe is from a local caterer's recipe book--Hamby's Catering.

We had a great time at Tech, it's defiantly different than USC tailgating! Elisabeth and I are good at pretending to be Yellow Jackets for the weekend to fit in with the rest of the alumi crowd :)

You know you're at Georgia Tech when you see exponents on a bumper sticker.

~I'm looking forward to spending a low key Friday night catching up with Caitlyn and watching Grey's! Although my new fall favorite is Pan Am {reminds me of American Dreams from my high school days...}

~I'm loving that my family is starting to make Thanksgiving/Christmas plans. My FAVORITE time of the year is just around the corner. {Only 80 more days until Christmas!!!!!}

via http://pintrest.com/pin/173807814

~I'm loving that I get to see Victoria, my long distance best friend, in just a few days!

~I'm loving that Wedding Planner is on TV. I'm thinking I would love to have a romantic date night in the park watching a black and white movie on a tree branch.

~I'm loving my current read 'The Soldier's Wife' that I started this summer and am embarrassed I'm just finishing it.

We're both in hospital placements this semester but we like totally different things--she loves adults...not exactly my cup of tea. But last week 2 things happened that helped me see the silver lining...

~I got to witness a lady post-stroke who can barely write her name or phone number, write 'I love you' to her daughter.

~I also saw a man say 'Hey Sis' as his sister walks in the room...this was the first time she'd heard his voice since his stroke...something she thought she may never hear again.

Talk about melting my heart...so sweet and a great reminder that working with adults can be just as rewarding as working with the little ones.

Labor Day Weekend we drove up to Flat Rock, NC to Sky Top Orchard for our annual apple picking trip. We've being going to the same orchard for a few years and always look forward to it! We did some strategic scheduling and decided to go Friday during the day in hopes of missing the Labor Day crowds. Our plan worked...except for a pop up thunderstorm. Luckily we were all done picking our apples--Galas, Courtlands, and Golden Delicious were on the menu this time.

And what comes with apple picking...apple baking, of course!

Grandma Nancy's Apple Oatmeal Crisp

Makes 6 servings.

3-4 tart cooking apples ½ C(1 stick) butter or margarine ( I have used both depending on what I have)

¾ C firmly packed brown sugar (again I use light or dark or a combination of what I have)

¾ C quick cooking oatmeal

½ C flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Pare apples: quarter, core and slice thinly. Arrange slices in buttered shallow 6-cup baking dish.2.Melt butter or margarine in a medium size saucepan. Stir in brown sugar, oatmeal, flour, and cinn. until mixture is crumbly: sprinkle over apples. I never find this real crumbly but use it like it is.3.Bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) for 35 min. or until crumbs are golden brown, and apples are soft when pierced with a fork.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Tomorrow I'll take The BIG Test aka the PRAXIS. I have to pass this test to be a Speech-Language Pathologist. Basically they ask you anything and everything that I was supposed to learn over the past 2 years. How do you even start to study for that???
You have to get 60% to pass--that sounds low. I would hope I know more than 60% of the material necessary to do my job?! The problem is we are certified to do so much..there is no way you could know 100% of what we are certified to do.

In my PRAXIS prep class the instructor read the book, 'Testing Miss Malarkey' It's so cute! The book is all about how big standardized tests can get blown out of proportion and helps kids not to have test anxiety. Maybe one day I'll be reading this book to my clients :)

'The Principal is literally flipping his wig over which pencils to order, students in art class learn the correct way to fill in circles, and Mr. Fitanuff is teaching yoga to help de-stress kids before the test. Even worse, children are denied recess, and parents are concerned about property values.'

So here we go...got my #2 pencil ready (it has to be non-mechanical---I have to go buy one. No, I haven't owned a regular yellow #2 pencil since about the second grade)

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Dear Peyton,
I've been worried about your neck since the end of last season. I'm bummed you had that anterior fusion to fix those pesky nerves and couldn't play against Houston...boy did we miss you! I know you said 'you'll miss the team more than they miss you'--thanks for being humble but that is false.
I really don't want to cheer for Kerry Collins, or heaven forbid Curtis Painter. They're not as cute as you and definitely can't control the offense at the line of scrimmage like you do. Please don't stop watching films with the receivers--you are still the quarterback and they desperately need your help!
Hope those vertebrae fuse together correctly and nerves regenerate quickly. Can't wait to see #18 under center really soon.
Love,
Rachael

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

This is going to be a very busy driving week. One trip to Augusta and two trips to Spartanburg = 546 miles driven by the end of the week, yikes I shouldn't have calculated... So for meals I need to plan ahead and break out the crock pot.
I have 2 recipes picked out for dinner:
a new one End of Summer Harvest Soup

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

A few weeks ago we had a Girl's Night at the Movies and saw The Help. It was sooo good and definitely 'theater worthy' {does anyone else rate their movies: not worth it, Redbox worthy, and theater worthy??}
We had such a fun group of friends go and it was so fun to see all my Pinewood soccer friends :)

I read about 2/3rds of the book before grad school started and got a feel for the characters and the jist of the story.

Miss Hilly--loved her outfits and perfectly poofed hair...hated her attitude!

Loved Skeeter, Minny, and Aibaline's characters

This movie got me thinking about the South...it's the only place I've ever lived and all I've ever know. This article: Redefining the Southern Belleis so cute, especially if you're from the South!

ps where can I get that hat?!

~Southern women know how to bake a funeral casserole and why you should. Southern women know how to make other women feel pretty. Southern women like men and allow them to stay men. Southern women are not afraid to dance. Southern women know you can’t outrun your past, that manners count, and that your mother deserves a phone call every Sunday {or for me everyday}. Southern women can say more with a cut of their eyes than a whole debate club’s worth of speeches.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

I'm going to be traveling 2 days a week this Fall for my practicum. {the jury is still out on where I'll be...but I'm crossing my fingers for a hospital in Greenville} So I decided I needed to get ahead of the ballgame on some meal planning/making. Many freezer meals are made with pasta {aka not GF} or pretty unhealthy {which doesn't help with the calorie counting} The solution I found was '1 Month of Make Ahead Meals'...basically the idea is to make and freeze 5 building block main ingredients and from those you can make 20 different recipes. I'll have to admit a few are a few weird ones I won't make, but the majority of the recipes look pretty good--Spanish Rice with Shrimp, Pork&Avocado Tacos, Brunswick Stew, Lemon Chicken Frittata, Pork Fried Rice and Spinach&Pepper Calzones, just to name a few. I couldn't find the article or recipes online but they're in Rachael Ray's September magazine article '1 Month of Make Ahead Meals'
This is what I started with at 11:30am